A courthouse farewell: County Maintenance Manager Dennis Reves retires after 16 years

Thursday

Nov 30, 2017 at 7:00 AM

By Jessica LemaThe Courier

Logan County Courthouse employees honored the contributions of one of their own with a special celebration Wednesday afternoon in the County Clerk’s Office.

After 16 years on the job, County Maintenance Manager Dennis Reves will hang up his hat today and begin a new era as a retired man.

Since 2001, Reves has been the county’s go-to guy when it comes to maintenance and repairs at Latham and Scully Parks, the Logan County Courthouse, the John Logan Building and the Logan County Safety Complex.

In that time, Reves played a pivotal role in nearly every project involving the county’s buildings & grounds and helped facilitate countless community events on the courthouse square.

His co-workers said this week that no one knows the nooks, crannies and quirks of the county’s 112-year-old courthouse quite like Dennis Reves.

"He’s so familiar with this building, it’s like a child to him," County Clerk Sally Turner said with a smile on Wednesday.

"He’s a great man, a great Marine and he will definitely be missed."

Over the years, Reves, 64, has been responsible for some of the county’s most familiar sights and sounds, including the installation of 120 candlelight lamps in the courthouse windows around the holidays, upkeep on the building’s original clocks and rooftop bell (circa 1905), the assembly of the rotunda Christmas tree and the seasonal preparation of the Scully Park fountain.

"He’s always taken such pride in the dome, the clocks and really everything in this building," Circuit Clerk Mary Kelley added. "Whenever something’s going on, he’s here as fast as anybody. We could always count on him."

Lynnette Bruce, secretary to Judge Funk, said, "I think Dennis was always the silent man behind the scenes because things would get done, whether we noticed him doing them or not, and I know we’re going to miss him very much."

When the county’s first Veterans Assistance Commission was established in 2016, Reves, a veteran himself, took special pride in creating a custom, star-spangled sign for the VAC office on the first floor of the courthouse.

"He took it upon himself to do that," Joe Schaler, an early advocate for the VAC, said Wednesday. "Anything we’ve needed, he’s always been there. He’s really a super guy and he will be very hard to replace, if that’s even possible."

Teena Feldman, the Sheriff’s courthouse secretary, added, "All I can say is that Dennis does way more than anyone else when you think of all the little things that people don’t notice. He’s always there with a smile and never complains about anything."

During the celebration in his honor Wednesday, several of his co-workers held back tears as they tried to summarize what Reves has meant to his courthouse "family," as well as the building itself.

"I just think it’s beautiful," Reves said, reflecting on the historic structure that has been like a second home to him throughout the years.

Growing up in Lincoln, he was always familiar with the courthouse as a public building, but never imagined he’d come to know its inner-workings as though they were an extension of himself.

"You think about, back in the day, what it took to build this courthouse."

In 1905, all the of the building materials were brought downtown on carts pulled by animals and hoisted up with man-powered cranes.

"It’s pretty incredible," he said with a smile.

Reves was born and raised in town; he and his four siblings grew up in a house near the fairgrounds, where his family raised chickens and tended to a huge garden during the warmer months.

He joined the Marines in 1971 and spent time in the Philippines, Okinawa, and Hong Kong before being stationed on a Navy ship off the coast of Vietnam.

Reves returned home in 1973 and worked in Texas for a few years before settling down in central Illinois. From 1975-1999, he worked in a variety of roles at Revere Copper and Brass in Clinton, Ill.

In the early-1980s, he fell in love with a local girl named Jessie and together they spent over 30 years watching their children- Corrie, Shane and Brittany- grow into adulthood and establish their own careers and families.

In 2011, when the courthouse bell was restored and rung for the first time in decades, Reves recalled with a great deal of nostalgia that he hadn’t heard that sound since before he joined the service. It was one of several county projects that he was especially proud to have lent a hand to in his 16 years under (and sometimes on top of) that roof.

Looking ahead, Reves plans to enjoy his retirement by traveling, fishing and spending time with his grandchildren. "I won’t miss getting called at 2 a.m. because the alarm is going off or something’s going on," he said with a laugh.

"But I will miss the people I work with. They’re all such good people and I consider them family, so of course I’ll miss this place, but they are really what I’ll miss the most."

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